Huddersfield University Business School Chooses Actinic Software for e-Business M.Sc.

1 May 2002 (A0202) -- Recent surveys by the DTI and Netvalue put the UK
amongst the world leaders in the use of ecommerce, with 20% more
businesses trading online in 2001 than in 2000, and over three-quarters of
home internet users now shopping online. Recognising the role of education
in building and maintaining this position, Actinic is partnering with
Huddersfield University to provide ecommerce software for higher level
education in the field of electronic business.

Peter Wraith, lecturer in E-Business says, "We needed a product to show
students on our M.Sc. Electronic Business course all the practical issues
involved in designing, building and hosting an online store. We chose
Actinic Business because it makes it very easy to create and maintain a set
of web pages about a company and its products. It supports up to 10,000
products with images and product descriptions and has offline stock
monitoring and reporting. It also lets us integrate any online stores we
build with accounting systems like Sage Line 50 and QuickBooks. Using the
software forces students to confront issues such as security, payment
methods and systems integration early on, rather than getting distracted
by the complexities of site design."

Now on version 5.0, Actinic Business integrates all elements of a web
store, from site design and product catalogue through to order processing
and printing of invoices. Advanced features include customer account
management, customised pricing schedules for individual customers, quantity
based discounts and linking to external databases.

The course is offered in both part-time and full-time modes. The full-time
course takes place over one academic year with a subsequent dissertation.
The part-time course involves evening lectures, tutorials and seminars over
two academic years followed by a dissertation period. All aspects of
electronic business are covered, including ebusiness and ecommerce
technology and information systems, marketing and communications, strategy
and logistics.

"Most of our students on the part-time M.Sc. Electronic Business course are
working in local companies or local government and have a need to explore
the implication of providing services electronically. The hands-on nature
of our courses lets them get to grips with the issues head on," adds Peter.

Actinic's European Business Development Manager, Phil Rothwell, says
"Education plays an important role in equipping business for the internet
age. Actinic believes that courses like the one in Huddersfield will turn
out the next generation of internet-ready businessmen and executives, so
we're delighted to be able to contribute to this visionary initiative."

Founded in1996 and listed on the London Stock Exchange, Actinic plc
specialises in developing PC-based ecommerce software for small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) that want to sell online. Actinic is a key partner in
the DTI's UK online for business programme.

Used on thousands of live sites in 40 countries, some of Actinic's better
known UK users include London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House,
Sony Music Europe, Lloyds of London, Focus Do-it-All, Robert Dyas, Bill
Wyman, Royal Navy, Help the Aged, Letts Diaries, Royal National Institute
for Deaf People, Sunningdale and Royal St David Golf Clubs, Devon and West
Sussex County Councils.

Products are headed by Actinic Developer, a development tool with
Dreamweaver interface for commercial web designers who deploy ecommerce
solutions for SMEs. Actinic Catalog is a complete business-to-consumer
ecommerce solution with catalogue, shopping cart, ordering, payment,
security and order processing. Actinic Business is a more sophisticated
application for integrating ecommerce and back-end systems and is suitable
for B2B and/or B2C sales. Actinic Link (with Business) enables integration
with the popular accounts applications Sage Line 50, QuickBooks and
Exchequer Enterprise.